Track & Field
Baily, Ryan
Ryan Baily
- Title:
- Assistant Coach - Multi-Events, Pole Vault, Jumps
- Email:
- rbaily@sports.uga.edu
Ryan Baily began coaching Georgia’s multi-event athletes, pole vaulters and jumpers in December 2023 at Georgia after serving in the same role at Colorado State.
Most recently, Baily’s group played a key role in clinching the program’s first NCAA women’s outdoor title. Elena Kulichenko posted a season best of 1.96 meters/6 feet, 5 inches to win her first outright high jump crown in her final collegiate competition. First-year triple jumper Skylynn Townsend surprised the field by taking sixth with the seventh-best mark in school history (13.52m/44-4.25) to help the Bulldogs leave the competition behind by 26 points at the meet’s conclusion.
Kulichenko tied for the 2025 NCAA indoor title thanks to a clearance of 1.94m/6-4.25. This performance came two weeks after Kulichenko became the No. 12 all-time collegiate performer with a school record mark of 1.95m/6-4.75 that earned her runner-up honors at the Southeastern Conference Championships. While Townsend locked down the eighth-best indoor triple jump in UGA history (13.36m/43-10), Ella Rush was an NCAA indoor qualifier after scoring 4,217 points in the pentathlon and was third in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
The men also generated three SEC crowns and four First Team All-America certificates in 2015. Riyon Rankin built on his runner-up performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships to win the SEC outdoor championship with a personal best showing of 2.29m/7-6, which ranked tops in the nation and No. 3 in UGA history . Rankin was slowed by an injury to close his outdoor season at NCAAs. His training partner, transfer Eddie Kurjak, stormed on the scene at outdoor Nationals and scored with a tie for eighth in the high jump (2.15m/7-0.50).
A pair of underclassmen also began to show the benefits of training under Baily. Freshman Jayden Keys scored at his first NCAA indoor meet after winning both the SEC Outdoor Championships (personal best 7.95m/26-1, No. 8 in NCAA 2025) and the league’s indoor meet (personal best 7.92/26-0, No. 5 in NCAA 2025). Micah Larry also traveled the nation’s seventh-best long jump distance (7.89m/25-10.75) to finish fourth at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Also of note, Nikolai van Huyssteen set the outdoor school record in the pole vault with a fourth-place finish at SECs (5.50m/18-0.50). Baily’s combined event athletes continued to improve as Jordan Fick narrowly missed the NCAA Championships after scoring 7,598 points in the decathlon. He was third at the SEC meet while teammate Maximus Tucker earned silver medal honors. Fick was also a bronze medal winner at the SEC Indoor Championships with 5,660 heptathlon points.
Baily made his presence felt immediately with the Bulldogs during his first year in 2024. His corps established 10 fresh marks to Georgia’s all-time top 10 lists, including two school records, had six scoring First Team All-Americans, including a national champion, and left with a pair of SEC individual title winners.
The high jump particularly benefitted from Baily’s guidance. Kulichenko posted matching bronze medal performances and 1.91m/6-3.25 clearances at the 2024 SEC and NCAA Championships indoors before elevating her performances to an even greater level outdoors. Kulichenko soared over the bar at a Cypriot, school and meet record mark of 1.97m/6-5.50 to tie for the NCAA outdoor crown and move to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list. The 2024 SEC outdoor champion won nine competitions in 2024, clearing at least 1.84m/6-0.50 in all of her meets. Baily went on to help Kulichenko take seventh at the Paris Olympics (1.95m/6-4.75).
On the men’s side, Rankin earned a pair of First Team All-America certificates in the high jump under Baily’s tutelage during his freshman year. Rankin had indoor and outdoor seasons bests of 2.21m/7-3 during his first year in the program. Also in jumps, newcomer Zavien Wolfe posted fourth and fifth place finishes in the triple and long, respectively, at SEC Indoors while Larry soared 7.80m/25-7.25 to command the silver medal at the league’s outdoor meet in his first season.
Baily was instrumental in a breakout season for Van Huyssteen in the pole vault as well as a stellar finale for triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome. Van Huyssteen shattered the school record with a mark of 5.42m/17-9.25 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to Nationals and was the SEC runner-up indoors and outdoors. Welcome was in the top eight at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, topping out with a bronze media finish indoors, and won the SEC indoor title in her final year.
Also of note, Rush won the long jump in both SEC combined event competitions and moved into UGA’s all-time top 10 list in the hep with her third place showing (5,606 points) at SECs.
Complementing Kulichenko’s success at the Olympic Games, Baily coached former Lady Bulldog SEC and NCAA champion and current UGA Athletic Association employee Chanice Porter to a spot on Team Jamaica in the long jump.
The Scottsbluff, Neb., left a strong impact at CSU, helping coach multiple Rams to a combined 19 school records, 23 Mountain West individual titles, eight All-America honors and two Honorable Mention All-America honors.
During the 2022-2023 season, Baily guided a sweep of the indoor multis at the Mountain West Championships as Lexie Keller won the pentathlon with a score of 4,306 and Drew Thompson won the heptathlon with 5,281 points. Keller went on to earn her third All-American honor in the pentathlon at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Thompson won the outdoor decathlon championship as well, scoring a lifetime best of 7,338.
Baily also guided Sharde Johnson to a first-place finish in the high jump (1.73m/5-8) at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships. Keller concluded her season at the USA National Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she finished in 10th place and earned an invitation to compete for Team USA in the Thorpe Cup.
In 2021-22, Baily helped coach a number of athletes to both school records and championships. Eldridge Harris broke the school record for outdoor pole vault (5.19m/17-0.25) to win the Mountain West Championship and Celyn Stermer broke the school record for indoor pole vault (4.12m/13-6.25). Allam Bushara broke the school record for indoor triple jump (16.07m/52-8.75) en route to an Indoor Mountain West Championship in the event.
Baily also coached Keller to a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the Indoor NCAA Championships (4,321 points) and sixth in the Outdoor NCAA Championships. Keller also won the heptathlon while setting a new meet record at the Mountain West Championship meet (5,834) and set new school records as she recorded the second-best heptathlon and pentathlon in conference history.
The 2018-19 campaign brought a flurry of accolades. Hunter Powell won indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon in the Mountain West Conference, totaling five in six seasons. Powell also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the decathlon. MaryBeth Sant broke school records in both the 60-meter dash (7.18) and 100m (11.41), while finishing fifth in the 60m at the Milrose Games among professional athletes. She also led off CSU's first-ever 4x100m All-American Relay. Nick Kravec capped his career off with a runner-up to Powell at the MWC Championships. The Rams’ decathlon squad finished the year as the top-ranked decathlon team in the NCAA.
Among the highlights for Baily’s athletes in 2017-18 was the performance of high jumper Autumn Gardner, who cleared 1.84m/6-0.5 to break CSU’s previous program record at the NoCo Challenge. That performance ranked Gardner sixth in Mountain West history in the event and distinguished her as one of five high jumpers in the conference to leap higher than six feet that decade. In addition, Gardner finished as the NCAA’s No. 8-ranked performer in the event in 2018.
Under Baily’s guidance, the Rams experienced one of the most successful stretches in the combined events in program history. During the 2016-17 indoor season, Hunter Price shattered the Mountain West and CSU records in the heptathlon, scoring 5,906 at the CSM Alumni Classic & Multis. Price broke his own records again at the NCAA Indoor Championships, piling up 5,996 points to place fourth and earn First-Team All-America status. No other heptathlete in MW history has finished as high as Price at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The 2016-17 season continued with more success from Baily’s combined events athletes, as Josh Cogdill earned Second-Team All-America honors and Price earned Honorable Mention honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Cogdill placed 16th at the national meet, marking the highest finish for a CSU decathlete since 1982 (John Harrell – 10th). During the outdoor season, Price broke the CSU record and set the No. 2 all-time mark in conference history with a score of 7,801 in the elite invitational section of the Mt. SAC/California Invitational Combined Events.
Among Baily’s top multi-event athletes at CSU was Jessica Green, who placed 22nd in the heptathlon (5,032 points) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. With her performance, Green became the first CSU athlete to earn any level of All-America honors in the women’s heptathlon since 2008. Baily also coached an All-American in his first season at CSU, guiding Justin Green to Second Team honors (11th place – 5,348 points) in 2015.
Prior to his time at Colorado State, Baily was the head track & field and cross country coach at Chadron State. In his five years at Chadron State, Baily’s men’s team placed as high as ninth nationally in indoor track & field and 16th nationally in outdoor track & field. Baily’s Chadron State teams broke 18 men’s and 22 women’s school records and featured 22 All-Americans and a Division II national champion. His teams were also honored for their work in the classroom, as his men’s team earned the USTFCCCA’s Scholar Team of the Year award in 2011.
Baily has been recognized for his teams’ accomplishments several times and was a seven-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Baily earned honors as recently as in 2013 (men’s outdoor), also earning that honor twice in 2011 (women’s indoor, women’s outdoor) as well as in 2010 (men’s indoor).
While the head coach at Western State (2005-09), Baily earned that same honor in 2008 (men’s indoor) and twice in 2007 (women’s outdoor, men’s outdoor). Additionally, Baily was named the USTFCCCA North Central Regional Coach of the Year in 2008. Among the top performances by his Western State squads was its showing at the 2007 RMAC Outdoor Championships, where each of his women’s and men’s teams placed second.
Baily was a conference champion in the decathlon at Chadron State. He was named the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year while attaining his bachelor’s degree in education (2003) and added a master’s degree in education in 2005 from the University of the Cumberlands. In addition, Baily holds a USA Track & Field Level I certification.
Baily is married to his wife, Janel, and the couple has two children: Jayden and Trenton.
Most recently, Baily’s group played a key role in clinching the program’s first NCAA women’s outdoor title. Elena Kulichenko posted a season best of 1.96 meters/6 feet, 5 inches to win her first outright high jump crown in her final collegiate competition. First-year triple jumper Skylynn Townsend surprised the field by taking sixth with the seventh-best mark in school history (13.52m/44-4.25) to help the Bulldogs leave the competition behind by 26 points at the meet’s conclusion.
Kulichenko tied for the 2025 NCAA indoor title thanks to a clearance of 1.94m/6-4.25. This performance came two weeks after Kulichenko became the No. 12 all-time collegiate performer with a school record mark of 1.95m/6-4.75 that earned her runner-up honors at the Southeastern Conference Championships. While Townsend locked down the eighth-best indoor triple jump in UGA history (13.36m/43-10), Ella Rush was an NCAA indoor qualifier after scoring 4,217 points in the pentathlon and was third in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
The men also generated three SEC crowns and four First Team All-America certificates in 2015. Riyon Rankin built on his runner-up performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships to win the SEC outdoor championship with a personal best showing of 2.29m/7-6, which ranked tops in the nation and No. 3 in UGA history . Rankin was slowed by an injury to close his outdoor season at NCAAs. His training partner, transfer Eddie Kurjak, stormed on the scene at outdoor Nationals and scored with a tie for eighth in the high jump (2.15m/7-0.50).
A pair of underclassmen also began to show the benefits of training under Baily. Freshman Jayden Keys scored at his first NCAA indoor meet after winning both the SEC Outdoor Championships (personal best 7.95m/26-1, No. 8 in NCAA 2025) and the league’s indoor meet (personal best 7.92/26-0, No. 5 in NCAA 2025). Micah Larry also traveled the nation’s seventh-best long jump distance (7.89m/25-10.75) to finish fourth at the 2025 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Also of note, Nikolai van Huyssteen set the outdoor school record in the pole vault with a fourth-place finish at SECs (5.50m/18-0.50). Baily’s combined event athletes continued to improve as Jordan Fick narrowly missed the NCAA Championships after scoring 7,598 points in the decathlon. He was third at the SEC meet while teammate Maximus Tucker earned silver medal honors. Fick was also a bronze medal winner at the SEC Indoor Championships with 5,660 heptathlon points.
Baily made his presence felt immediately with the Bulldogs during his first year in 2024. His corps established 10 fresh marks to Georgia’s all-time top 10 lists, including two school records, had six scoring First Team All-Americans, including a national champion, and left with a pair of SEC individual title winners.
The high jump particularly benefitted from Baily’s guidance. Kulichenko posted matching bronze medal performances and 1.91m/6-3.25 clearances at the 2024 SEC and NCAA Championships indoors before elevating her performances to an even greater level outdoors. Kulichenko soared over the bar at a Cypriot, school and meet record mark of 1.97m/6-5.50 to tie for the NCAA outdoor crown and move to No. 4 on the all-time collegiate performer’s list. The 2024 SEC outdoor champion won nine competitions in 2024, clearing at least 1.84m/6-0.50 in all of her meets. Baily went on to help Kulichenko take seventh at the Paris Olympics (1.95m/6-4.75).
On the men’s side, Rankin earned a pair of First Team All-America certificates in the high jump under Baily’s tutelage during his freshman year. Rankin had indoor and outdoor seasons bests of 2.21m/7-3 during his first year in the program. Also in jumps, newcomer Zavien Wolfe posted fourth and fifth place finishes in the triple and long, respectively, at SEC Indoors while Larry soared 7.80m/25-7.25 to command the silver medal at the league’s outdoor meet in his first season.
Baily was instrumental in a breakout season for Van Huyssteen in the pole vault as well as a stellar finale for triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome. Van Huyssteen shattered the school record with a mark of 5.42m/17-9.25 at the NCAA East Prelims to punch his ticket to Nationals and was the SEC runner-up indoors and outdoors. Welcome was in the top eight at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, topping out with a bronze media finish indoors, and won the SEC indoor title in her final year.
Also of note, Rush won the long jump in both SEC combined event competitions and moved into UGA’s all-time top 10 list in the hep with her third place showing (5,606 points) at SECs.
Complementing Kulichenko’s success at the Olympic Games, Baily coached former Lady Bulldog SEC and NCAA champion and current UGA Athletic Association employee Chanice Porter to a spot on Team Jamaica in the long jump.
The Scottsbluff, Neb., left a strong impact at CSU, helping coach multiple Rams to a combined 19 school records, 23 Mountain West individual titles, eight All-America honors and two Honorable Mention All-America honors.
During the 2022-2023 season, Baily guided a sweep of the indoor multis at the Mountain West Championships as Lexie Keller won the pentathlon with a score of 4,306 and Drew Thompson won the heptathlon with 5,281 points. Keller went on to earn her third All-American honor in the pentathlon at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships. Thompson won the outdoor decathlon championship as well, scoring a lifetime best of 7,338.
Baily also guided Sharde Johnson to a first-place finish in the high jump (1.73m/5-8) at the Mountain West Outdoor Championships. Keller concluded her season at the USA National Championships in Eugene, Ore., where she finished in 10th place and earned an invitation to compete for Team USA in the Thorpe Cup.
In 2021-22, Baily helped coach a number of athletes to both school records and championships. Eldridge Harris broke the school record for outdoor pole vault (5.19m/17-0.25) to win the Mountain West Championship and Celyn Stermer broke the school record for indoor pole vault (4.12m/13-6.25). Allam Bushara broke the school record for indoor triple jump (16.07m/52-8.75) en route to an Indoor Mountain West Championship in the event.
Baily also coached Keller to a third-place finish in the heptathlon at the Indoor NCAA Championships (4,321 points) and sixth in the Outdoor NCAA Championships. Keller also won the heptathlon while setting a new meet record at the Mountain West Championship meet (5,834) and set new school records as she recorded the second-best heptathlon and pentathlon in conference history.
The 2018-19 campaign brought a flurry of accolades. Hunter Powell won indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon in the Mountain West Conference, totaling five in six seasons. Powell also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the decathlon. MaryBeth Sant broke school records in both the 60-meter dash (7.18) and 100m (11.41), while finishing fifth in the 60m at the Milrose Games among professional athletes. She also led off CSU's first-ever 4x100m All-American Relay. Nick Kravec capped his career off with a runner-up to Powell at the MWC Championships. The Rams’ decathlon squad finished the year as the top-ranked decathlon team in the NCAA.
Among the highlights for Baily’s athletes in 2017-18 was the performance of high jumper Autumn Gardner, who cleared 1.84m/6-0.5 to break CSU’s previous program record at the NoCo Challenge. That performance ranked Gardner sixth in Mountain West history in the event and distinguished her as one of five high jumpers in the conference to leap higher than six feet that decade. In addition, Gardner finished as the NCAA’s No. 8-ranked performer in the event in 2018.
Under Baily’s guidance, the Rams experienced one of the most successful stretches in the combined events in program history. During the 2016-17 indoor season, Hunter Price shattered the Mountain West and CSU records in the heptathlon, scoring 5,906 at the CSM Alumni Classic & Multis. Price broke his own records again at the NCAA Indoor Championships, piling up 5,996 points to place fourth and earn First-Team All-America status. No other heptathlete in MW history has finished as high as Price at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The 2016-17 season continued with more success from Baily’s combined events athletes, as Josh Cogdill earned Second-Team All-America honors and Price earned Honorable Mention honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Cogdill placed 16th at the national meet, marking the highest finish for a CSU decathlete since 1982 (John Harrell – 10th). During the outdoor season, Price broke the CSU record and set the No. 2 all-time mark in conference history with a score of 7,801 in the elite invitational section of the Mt. SAC/California Invitational Combined Events.
Among Baily’s top multi-event athletes at CSU was Jessica Green, who placed 22nd in the heptathlon (5,032 points) at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. With her performance, Green became the first CSU athlete to earn any level of All-America honors in the women’s heptathlon since 2008. Baily also coached an All-American in his first season at CSU, guiding Justin Green to Second Team honors (11th place – 5,348 points) in 2015.
Prior to his time at Colorado State, Baily was the head track & field and cross country coach at Chadron State. In his five years at Chadron State, Baily’s men’s team placed as high as ninth nationally in indoor track & field and 16th nationally in outdoor track & field. Baily’s Chadron State teams broke 18 men’s and 22 women’s school records and featured 22 All-Americans and a Division II national champion. His teams were also honored for their work in the classroom, as his men’s team earned the USTFCCCA’s Scholar Team of the Year award in 2011.
Baily has been recognized for his teams’ accomplishments several times and was a seven-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Baily earned honors as recently as in 2013 (men’s outdoor), also earning that honor twice in 2011 (women’s indoor, women’s outdoor) as well as in 2010 (men’s indoor).
While the head coach at Western State (2005-09), Baily earned that same honor in 2008 (men’s indoor) and twice in 2007 (women’s outdoor, men’s outdoor). Additionally, Baily was named the USTFCCCA North Central Regional Coach of the Year in 2008. Among the top performances by his Western State squads was its showing at the 2007 RMAC Outdoor Championships, where each of his women’s and men’s teams placed second.
Baily was a conference champion in the decathlon at Chadron State. He was named the Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year while attaining his bachelor’s degree in education (2003) and added a master’s degree in education in 2005 from the University of the Cumberlands. In addition, Baily holds a USA Track & Field Level I certification.
Baily is married to his wife, Janel, and the couple has two children: Jayden and Trenton.
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